


Pride

by angel1876



Series: Carry On [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Frustration, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Neglect, Religious Discussion, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-16 18:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel1876/pseuds/angel1876
Summary: A symbol's meaning can evolve over time, and what the creator intended isn't always what the audience interprets.Takes place in the Carry On universe. Is a big part of the intended prequel I aim to write one day, and if not rewritten, will likely be taken down and inserted into the larger story.





	Pride

Andrew stood alone by the cafeteria, half a bottle of soda dangling from one hand as he absently read through an e-book with the other. At this time of day, there weren't very many other people around. Most were waiting for class to end so they could go home. He would be, too, but they'd gotten through the lecture early, and the history teacher wasn't one for insisting that unused class time be spent with study. 

So he had an extra ten minutes to himself before his friends showed up. 

They didn't share very many classes together. He had Danielle for PE and he had Elise for math. They sometimes met for a brief time before school started, and they met up for lunch, but that time was strained and limited. More work based than leisure. 

Tonight, since it was Friday, they were going to take the night off, save the homework for the weekend.

"Hey, how's it going?" 

He gave a small start at Elise's voice, but that quickly faded into a smile. Shoving his phone back into his pocket while she dropped her backpack next to the vending machine alongside his own, he answered, "Eh. Miss. Richards gave us another essay to write. But I passed that last literature test. So that's nice."

"Ugh. Glad you did. I don't even know what I'm gonna do about mine."

"Need help?"

"Maybe. I'll get back to you."

Andrew handed her the soda bottle, which she took without question and downed most of what was left. 

His eyes drew downward, catching sight of the necklace around her neck. There was a twinge of discomfort, a sense of foreboding. Right. Pentagram. That was a thing. 

He took his own out of his bag and put it on, fiddling briefly with the clasp. It was a bad idea to be caught wearing the thing, especially given Danielle's stunt with Lydia's locker. They couldn't wear it in class, and indeed, they couldn't wear it throughout most of the day, but they did try to keep it on as much as possible. So long as the teachers weren't looking, they were wearing it.

Well...Danielle and Elise did. Andrew hadn't worn his since morning. 

It hung there on his chest, stood out against the white cloth. Replaced his cross, which was still with him, in the pocket next to his phone. He'd never admit to it at this point, but...he really didn't like walking around with a pentagram on. He'd never have touched the thing if not for Elise. The day that Danielle offered it to them, he'd been almost horrified at the idea, but Elise took it without hesitation. 

Sure, it had no real meaning outside of rebellion. The only reason it was a pentagram was because Lydia hated them. There were no satanic or occult connections, but still. Still. It put his every nerve on edge, like he was doing something wrong. 

"Hi guys!" 

Speaking of Danielle. He and Elise both raised their hands in greeting as Danielle trotted up to them, bouncing from leg to leg with that endless air of energy about her. The woman never seemed to get tired, no matter how long the day was. She never seemed to stop.

Stepping past them, she put a couple of dollars into the vending machine and got a water. Took a drink from it, brushed some hair away from her face. Danielle had gone further than any of them, changed her entire outfit. Her own necklace rest securely in place, given a shorter chain so it rested against skin. Black clothes, a choker. She never did anything half-way.

"So fucking glad it's Friday." she said, leaning back against the vending machine. A move that was quickly countered by him tugging her away from it, vending machines fell all the time and it wasn't worth the risk. She yielded easily, going to lean against the wall instead. "It felt like the week was never gonna end. Now we can get out of here."

"Tell me about it." Elise said. She tossed the empty soda bottle into the recycling bin. "Especially since it's my turn to pick the movie. I've been waiting for this for two weeks."

"Oh no. Should we be afraid?"

"You should be terrified."

Andrew snorted, side-eyeing Danielle. "I got five bucks that says she's picking the Bee Movie."

"Don't tempt me," Elise said, "You know I'll do it."

"If she doesn't do it, I might." Danielle snickered. "I'm afraid you just doomed yourself, Boo."

"Oh no...what have I done?"

The chuckles were contagious, the strain of the week easing up with the sound. 

In the corner of his eye, Andrew caught sight of movement. Looking up to find another student, standing several feet away. He recognized her, knew her face, but he'd never actually worked with her on anything. Maybe he'd said hi once or twice, but that was about it. 

"Oh...hey," he said, lowering his voice. "I think she wants something. Do either of you know her?"

Elise shook her head, but Danielle shrugged.

"I have a couple classes with her. Don't remember her name. I've caught her staring at me off and on for the past two days."

"Staring at you?"

"Tch. Probably another one that wants to tell me I'm going to Hell, but too much of a coward to actually do it."

Andrew's lips pressed together at that, not quite frowning, his eyes returning to the girl. She wore a cross, but so did most everyone there. She didn't look too particularly threatening. Her hands wrung together, and when he met her eyes, she looked away. 

It was no secret that Danielle didn't particularly like anyone at this school. She was hostile toward him and Elise before she realized they were being bullied too. It wasn't out of the question, then, that she was assuming the worst here.

When the woman started to back away, he raised his voice, called out to her. "Hey! Do you need anything?"

"Don't bring her over here." Danielle murmured.

He ignored her. Took a welcoming step toward the girl, gave her a smile. 

Danielle withdrew to stay close to Elise, watching the two of them. He could feel the weight of that gaze. 

A small noise from the girl. "Um..."

For a moment, that was the only thing she said. She fiddled with her sleeves, eyes glancing around at random, looking at everything but him. He gave her time, let her get a hold on what she was going to say.

"Y-you're...she's Danielle, right? And that's Elise? And you..."

"I'm Andrew."

"Andrew. Hi. I'm Sam." She bit her lip. Rubbed her palms together. "I've...well, I've been wanting to ask...are the-are the rumors true?"

"Rumors?" Andrew hadn't heard of anything. "What rumors?" 

"..." She was quiet. 

Quiet for long enough that Andrew said, "It's alright. What rumors?"

"Well, they've been saying..." Sam rubbed at the back of her neck, fingertips scraping at her hairline. "So...so I heard Elise came out a while back. And like, a week after that, you three started wearing those...those necklaces, at school."

Reflexively, Andrew reached for the pendant, used to toying with his cross when he was nervous, and finding the curved of the circle there instead. "Yeah?"

"So they've been saying that...that they're related. That you're using them for Pride. And I was wondering if that was true, because...and I mean, I'm not-I'm...not out yet, but maybe I could still join you. If...if it was okay, if that's what you were doing."

He had no idea how to respond to that. 

How had she come to that conclusion? She'd said rumors. How far did those rumors go...?

Elise broke the silence before it could stretch too long. "Yes. Of course, it's okay. We'd be glad to have you."

She'd have the final say, and the moment it was out of her mouth Andrew was nodding in agreement.

"Absolutely," Danielle said, stepping forward. She smiled, that bright, winning smile of hers, a turnaround from not even a minute before. Her hands went up, unlatching the clasp of her necklace, reaching out to take Sam's hand. She pooled both pendant and chain into her palm, curled the girl's fingers around it, "Welcome to the pack. You're accepted here."

And God, Sam's smile in return, the shine in her eyes. 

She hugged Danielle, thanking her, thanking the three of them as a group. Rubbing her face with the back of her hand, laughing a laugh that lacked humor but was full of relief.

"I...I'm bi. I haven't told anyone yet."

Elise put her arm about Sam's shoulders, giving a squeeze. "Then thank you for trusting us enough to tell us first."

Andrew put his hand on her arm, a supportive move. "Say, we were going to go have movie night at my place. You could come join us if you'd like."

"N-no thank you. I need to get home." She was holding the necklace to her chest. Like it was a cherished thing already. "Thank you. I'll, I'll see you guys on Monday, though, okay?"

"We'll see you then. Have a good night."

Then she was gone. They watched her go, slip out the door leading toward the front of the school. Andrew's fingers curled around his pendant, trailing his thumb over it lightly. Still stunned, this was the last thing he'd expected. It was a pentagram. Pentagrams were bad. 

"Wow." Elise said. "I think we might have just accidentally started something."

"Accidentally?" Danielle turned to her, playfully nudging her shoulder. "It sounded pretty intentional when you said yes."

"What, was I going to say no? 'No, sorry Miss-Who-Just-Bared-Her-Soul-To-Us, these are just for us, no one else.' How many do you think there are?"

"Hopefully there's a good number of them. Maybe she'll tell her friends."

"We'll have to wait and see. Come on, let's get out of here."

The night'd already been worked out with everyone's parents. Granted, he'd not spoken to his mother about it, but she wasn't going to care if he had friends over or not. The important ones, though, they'd been called. Danielle and Elise's family knew where they were and how to get a hold of them. Andrew let them both into his car and drove them to his place, listening to them chatter in the background while he focused on the road. 

As soon as they were out of the car, Elise poked him in the side. "I'm gonna make some french fries for the movie. That okay?"

"Yeah. Make extra?"

"Always. Danielle, you want ranch on yours?"

"Please and thank!"

Once inside, Elise went into the kitchen, while Andrew and Danielle went for the livingroom. He set up the DVD player for the movie, and Danielle went for the liquor cabinet. Opened the glass door and browsed through what they had. 

"Your mom finished off the whiskey, didn't she?"

"Yeah. Couple nights ago. She'll get more in eventually."

"Eventually." she echoed. 

He heard her open something. Heard her swallowing. That wasn't anything new, part of why she liked coming to his place was the alcohol. The thing that alerted him to something being wrong was that she kept swallowing.

"...Danielle? What are you doing?"

He put the remote down and turned toward her as she lowered the bottle, a heavy, full body shudder of disgust rolling through her. She'd grabbed a fresh bottle of rum, he saw, and she'd drank a good chunk of it. Several shots down in one sitting, enough that she was having to stop to catch her breath.

That...might have been a problem. His girlfriend was unpredictable, a furious and chaotic storm of a woman, but even this was a bit much.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

In response, she took another swig, and he put his hand on the bottle to push it back down. 

"Woah," he said, "You're going to make yourself sick at this rate. Stop for a bit. What's wrong?"

_"I'm a fucking idiot."_

Anger. Venom. Sudden and sharp and self directed. And Danielle never, ever does anything halfway. "What? No," he said. "You're not an idiot."

"I was ready to bite her head off. She followed me for two days, and I was ready to tear her down. And then she was nice. She was nice and I would've been a bitch to her. I probably wouldn't have given her half a chance to explain why she was following me."

Her back turned to him, she leaned against the wall, the bottle of rum still hanging from one hand. 

He touched her back, pressed his palm between her shoulder-blades. "Hey...it's okay. You didn't know-"

"Don't tell me it's okay. Telling assholes that being an asshole is okay is how we get people like Lydia ruining everyone's life." A crack in her voice. A hitch in her breath. A whine that was quickly bit down. She was crying.

He put both hands on her shoulders now, leaned into her, pressed down close to the top of her head. Danielle was much shorter than him, which made the position somewhat awkward, what with his own face almost against the wall, but he managed. "But you weren't mean to her."

"I would've been."

"Well. You know better now. So...in the future, you'll wait to bite people's heads off until you know for sure they're gonna be dicks. No one was hurt."

"Tch. And what if she was?"

"She wasn't." He let out a breath, rubbed her shoulders lightly.

Usually, in this situation, he would have used faith to reassure. Kind of hard to do with an atheist. He thought about it, thought about what to say that would make her feel better.

He said, "Well, okay...she might have been hurt. She wasn't, but she might've been. It wouldn't have been fair. Thing is, she doesn't have any idea about it, you and I are the only ones who know. She can't forgive you, but I can. So, you know, you almost did a bad thing. You almost did a really bad thing, but I forgive you."

A strangled noise, somewhere between a sob and a laugh.

His voice softens. He says, "We're not all your enemy, you know."

"Hah. I know, I know." Danielle turned around, her face wet and her eyes puffy, She rubbed herself dry on the inside of her shirt, clearing her nose with a sniff. "You're a good guy, Boo."

She put the bottle-top back on the rum, only to pause and stare at the amount that was gone.

"Oh, shit," she said, pushing the bottle into his hands. "I'm going to regret that. Fuck. I don't think I should have anymore tonight."

"No. What you should do is go lay down on the couch. I'll get you a few slices of bread."

"But Elise is making fries."

"Elise may be making fries, but you need to eat something now. Go on, while you can still walk."

As promised, he grabbed her a few pieces of bread, and a glass of water. He told Elise that Danielle had been a bit...overzealous, though he kept the reason behind that to himself. 

She was already starting to look a bit flushed when he came back. It wasn't going to be an emergency, she'd had that much before...just not all at once. Still, he was going to keep an eye on her for the night. If she passed out and stayed passed out, that was dangerous, and he wouldn't hesitate to get her to a doctor if that happened. 

Danielle took the bread from him, tore it into slices and ate it methodically. 

The rum was on the table, leaving him and Elise free to take what they wanted of it. When the fries were done, they both joined Danielle on the couch, Andrew in the middle, Elise leaning against one side and Danielle laying down on the other. They each had a bowl full of hot french fries, Danielle's with ranch, Elise's with ketchup, and his were plain.

Before they could start the movie Elise picked, she turned, leaning over him to poke at Danielle. "Hey," she said, "You still here enough to talk?"

"Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

"I think we should run with this. The pentagram thing. If I gave you the money, could you get more?"

"I can get more, but you should keep your money."

"We'll each pay for half. Anyway. I've been thinking about it. The pentagram standing for Pride. There's a part in the Bible, it says that Jesus used to talk in metaphors. The people who followed Him, they'd understand the metaphors because they knew Him. The people who didn't follow wouldn't understand. So I'm thinking...well. There are people who are going to understand that we're applying a different meaning to the thing. They'll listen to us, and see what we see. And the people who don't care aren't going to look past the surface. We're still sticking it to the bad guys, but we're doing it in a way that lets the good guys get in on it too."

Danielle ate a french fry, was quiet for a moment. "I take it back, I don't think I'm here enough for this. But you're right. Probably. We should do the thing."

Elise laughed. "I'll talk to you about it again when you're sober. Let's watch the movie."

"'Kay."

They turned it on, and it wasn't the Bee Movie. It was Shrek. Danielle's turn was next week. Oh no.

He'd have to find a worse movie to show them. Somehow. He had two weeks to think about it.

While they watched, while Elise leaned into his side and Danielle shifted around to lay her head on his leg...while they all sat there, Andrew thought to himself, his hand on the necklace.

The pentagram as a symbol of rebellion. Something they'd picked purposely to get on the nerves of their bullys. A secret Pride symbol. Not everyone would realize what it was at first glance. Those that knew could draw strength from it. A complete re-branding of the image.

With that context...

Yeah. He might be pretty okay with wearing a pentagram, after all. 


End file.
